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Kota Kinabalu: Datuk Adeline Leong has added to her string of “firsts” by becoming the first woman to head the Institute of  Development Studies Sabah (IDS), the State Government think tank.

The former Malaysian Head of Mission to Taiwan with Ambassador status has been appointed the new IDS Chairman by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor with immediate effect.

Elected to the IDS Board since 1986, Leong is its longest-serving member.

She was a Council Member of Sime Darby Foundation from 2013-2015 and was appointed Consultant to the Tan Chong Group upon her return from Taiwan in 2018. In 1998, she became the first Malaysian woman to be made President of a Municipal Council in the country (Kota Kinabalu Municipal Council, forerunner of City Hall). Later, she became the Sandakan Municipal Council President and was at one time tipped to become Kota Kinabalu’s first Mayor when it became a city in 2000. She also served 25 years as Director of the Sabah State Library (1973-1998).